SHIRAS EXPEDITIONS TO WHITEFISH TOINT. 135 



brush were many sponges (Myenia fluviatilis ostrosperma) as well as 

 dragon-fly larvae, leeches, snails and other invertebrates. 



The marsh lakes have three small outlet streams in the Vermilion 

 region, called by the writer, Vermilion Creek, Cranberry Creek, and 

 Wetherhog Creek (Fig. 3). 



Vermilion Creek flows from a pool at the junction of three channels 

 (Station 24, Fig. 3), the largest of which extends southward to I3eaver 

 Lake. It is, for the most part, an artificially dredged ditch with a 

 board dam, which has a controllable spillway so the water may be made 

 to rise in the several ditches of the cranberry marshes to flood them. 

 According to many observations th(^ creek above the dam has a fish 

 fauna like that of the marsh lakes. Below the dam, the stream is 

 irregular in width and depth, perhaps six or seven feet on the average 

 and shallow except for a few "holes" where the water is still and nearly 

 two feet deep with mud bottom and growths of pondweeds, filamentous 

 algae, and other aquatic plants. These are favorite places for brook 

 sticklebacks. AVhere the creek cuts under the bank small brook trout 

 find hiding places from which they are easily captured with a dip net. 

 Fish were seldom seen out in the open stream, but stayed in deep 

 places. Their absence here may have been clue to blue herons which 

 feed along this creek (Plate XXIVB). The following fish were taken 

 in this part of the stream (Station 22) : brook stickleback, brook 

 trout, silvery minnow, common sucker, and Leucisciis neogaeus. 



A number of other animals were taken in the few net collections made 

 at Station 22. Among these were: two kinds of leeches {Eroydella 

 punctata and JIaemopsis marmoratus) , crayfish {Camharus virilis), 

 dragon-fly larvae {Somatochlorasp., Gomphus sp., and Aeschna sp.)^ 

 water bugs {Lithocerus sp.), water beetles, and snails {Physa hetero- 

 stropha). Tadpoles were abundant in shallow tributaries of this creek 

 and a number of frogs were seen about it. 



. At Vermilion the creek is covered with a tramwaj^ made of heavy 

 timbers and driven piles. It extends out into Lake Superior about a 

 hundred and fifty feet as a strong pier (Plate XIIB, background). 

 The separated overhead cross timbers of this structure put the creek 

 in heavy shade like a woodland stream. No leafy plants develop from 

 its sandy bottom or shore. It is a few feet wide, rather swift, and but 

 a few inches deep, except in a few restricted areas where it is two feet 

 or so deep. 'The following fish were caught under this tramAvay (Sta- 

 tion 21) : brook trout, common sucker, long-nosed sucker, red-bellied 

 dace, common perch, burbot, and common sculpin. 



The trout here are small, but one nearly a foot long was seen. They 

 were all found beneath submerged objects in the deeper parts of the 

 creek. Schools of little suckers wandered into the creek short dis- 



